Worthy pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in the incident and was sentenced by a Superior Court judge to 18 months in prison, 6 months of either home confinement or work release and then 18 months of probation, the release stated.

Worthy, of New Castle, worked at Happy Kids Academy on Old Baltimore Pike in Christiana on Sept. 27, 2017, and was trying to get the baby to sleep, police said at the time of the investigation. Worthy repeatedly hit the girl on the back and bottom and "aggressively re-positioned" her multiple times, police said.

Worthy submitted an incident report to the facility's director shortly after the incident, saying she heard a crack in the baby's foot, police said.

Police later found the girl had a fractured leg, police said.

Worthy turned herself in and was charged with first-degree child abuse and released on $20,000 bail.